Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Accidental Saints is shocking in many ways, just as it's intended to be.  The author, Nadia Bolz-Weber, is an unlikely, atypical pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the more liberal branch of Lutheranism).  She is covered with tattoos and cynicism, enjoys making people squirm with her f-bombs, and spurns the right as much as they spurn her. Your typical radical, left-wing liberal, full of questions and doubts, yet astonishingly in love with Jesus.  And anyone who is love with my Savior is alright by me.

At times, Nadia made me angry.  I admit I was indeed bothered by her swearing.  I can totally understand that anyone, including myself, can let a curse word fly when upset, but her language is intentional.  I just see no need for it, and have always believed that an intelligent, educated person can find better words to express herself.

It also made me angry that she so often portrays anyone with conservative values as narrow-minded and stupid.  I would definitely rate myself as conservative in my views, yet I don't believe I am either narrow-minded or stupid. I was open-minded enough to read and review this book (I received it from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for my honest review).  Although she claims to be a liberal, she is not so liberal in her views of those who are not like her.  But, that is the point of the book.  Even the subtitle says it: Finding God in All the WRONG People.  Not finding God in surprising people or different people, but wrong people.That bothers me.

I did learn some good lessons from Nadia and I think you could too. I am certainly not proclaiming her as the next greatest pastor, but I am always blessed by reading of God's grace and this book does proclaim it.

The Rising: Murder, Heartbreak, and the Power of Human Resilience in an American Town by Ryan D'Agostino

I always enjoy reading biographies or memoirs and for years have been fascinated by crime stories.  The Rising is a great blend of both genres. It is the true story of the Petit family, an upper middle class family living in the suburbs of Connecticut. Bill Petit is a Yale grad and skilled physician. His wife, Jennifer, a beautiful pastor's daughter and pediatric nurse.  They had two daughters, Hayley, an popular athlete preparing for college, and Michaela, a sweet happy eleven-year old. They had it all until one night two men broke into their home and the unthinkable happened.  Everyone's worst nightmare: the men beat Bill within an inch of his life, assaulted Michaela, choked Jen to death, and murdered the girls by setting the house on fire.

This book tells the story of both Bill's and Jennifer's childhood, their dating and early marriage years, and then the time when they raised their children.  The reader really gets a feel for who this family is and what makes them tick.  Then the author tells the story of the horrific night when Bill's marriage, family and home were destroyed.  He then goes on to describe what life was like for Bill afterward.  The devastation, the deep loss, the agony--both physical and emotional.  Ryan D'Agostino does a wonderful job of answering the question: how does one survive a tragedy like that?

For me, one the most fascinating aspect of the book was the trials of the two men who committed the grisly crimes. It was very interesting to peek into the courtroom and into the minds of the attorneys and defendants. Thankfully justice prevailed.  But most of all love and grace prevailed. More than anything, The Rising is a story of the power of love and the resiliency of the human heart.  I received this book from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for my honest review.

Luther and Katharina: A Novel of Love and Rebellion by Jody Hedlund

Luther and Katharina is one of my favorite types of novels: historical fiction based on actual people. Luther is Martin Luther and Katharina his wife.  I thought I knew a fair amount about the reformation and about Lutheranism.  I grew up in a reformed church and worked in a Lutheran church for seven years.  To my surprise, there was much I didn't know (or forgot?). I learned many interesting and many horrifying things.  I was appalled at the abuses of the Catholic church and disgusted with people who called themselves Christians while raping, torturing, murdering others.  I guess there's nothing new under the sun!

This novel has it all.  Drama, suspense, romance, and history.  There is something to appeal to almost any reader. I think it's important to understand the history of Christianity better, to know what those who came before us went through to defend their faith and to practice it the way they believed they should.

Jody Hedlund is an excellent writer.  She did a great job of weaving together the historical facts of the time period with all those little fictional details that we as readers of history always wish we knew. She beautifully fleshes out the story of Katharina's escape from the convent where she lived since age five.  She also adds sweet and even humorous details to Luther and Katherina's romance. 

I enjoyed Luther and Katherina very much.  I would recommend it to any historical fiction fans.  The book I read was an Advance Reading Copy that I received from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for my honest review.

Legend by Eric Blehm

Eric Blehm hits it out of the park again with his latest book, Legend. When I read his best-selling book, Fearless, it was not at all my usual reading genre. I would normally not choose a military drama, but I was drawn to the biography aspect of it.  Navy Seal Team Six had been much in the news and I wanted to read about Adam Brown.  Surprise!  I loved the book.  Well, I am still not drawn to a military drama, but I am drawn to Eric Blehm's writing.  And NO surprise!  I loved the book.

Legend tells the story of Roy Benavidez, a Mexican American, raised in Texas by his migrant working family.  The Benavidez family had first come to the US in the 1800s and fought for independence from Mexico as Texans and Americans. Roy's father liked to tell his children stories about the war then and about family members who fought the Nazis in WWII. He also shared stories from his days as a cowboy.  The moral of many of his stories was "If someone needs help, you help them."  Another family member, Roy's uncle, often told him, "No matter what you do, always try to be your very best."  These two men and their advice to young Roy, shaped him to be a hard-working man of excellence.  Whatever he did, he gave it his all.

Those very characteristics are what set Roy up to be a hero and a legend during the Vietnam War.  Roy was a Green Beret, part of a special forces team with the 240th Assault Helicopter Company.  When a distress call went out from a jungle in Cambodia, Roy volunteered to help.  What happened in that small jungle clearing would become legend among those serving in the Special Operations community. Roy rose above and beyond every expectation of his father and uncle.  He gave his very best to help his severely wounded brothers-in-arms, refusing to leave until every survivor was aboard a helicopter bound for safety.

You'll enjoy this exciting true story and will be riveted to its pages to find out what happens next. Even if, like me, you don't usually go for military books, you'll be inspired by the life of Roy Benavidez. Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for my honest review.

The Little Bookshop: A Novel by Nina George

I feel as though I should gush over how marvelous this book was, a true literary delight, enchanting, profound, etc.  However, all I can think to say is this is one of the strangest books I have ever read.  Every character was weird, there was not one person I could relate to.  There is not one character like any person I have ever met in real life.

Perhaps if you were a literature, English, French or women's studies major in college, you may enjoy The Little Paris Bookshop, but I did not.  Now, I love books and I love reading, and I am an intelligent, educated person, but the only reason I finished this book is that I received it from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.  I felt obligated to read the whole thing in order to so. 

The Little Paris Bookshop touts itself as an adventure, and with that I can agree.  The main character travels through France on a barge, stopping at many quaint towns and villages along the way.  That aspect of the book I did enjoy, but it was not enough to redeem it in my mind. 

I chose this book to review because, as I said, I love books, so the premise of a book about a floating bookstore on the Seine River really sounded fascinating.  However, I cannot recommend it-especially for the high price of a hardcover.

I'm Happy for You (Sort Of...Not Really) by Kay Wills Wyma

I'm happy for me (sort of...not really) that I read this book.  I struggled with it, and had to force myself to finish it. This book reminded me of those crime drama shows on TV.  They have a story to tell that is good, but it's really only a story that should be a half hour long and instead they stretch it out to be an hour or two long.  I start out attentive, but lose interest half way through.

I'm Happy for You (Sort Of...Not Really) is subtitled Finding Contentment in a Culture of Comparison. I felt that the author, Kay Wills Wyma, spent a LOT of time telling us how discontented we are and how much we compare ourselves to others, but not nearly as much time telling us what to do about it.  I'm pretty sure that anyone who purchases the book already knows they are discontent.  I believe they would be looking for solutions and I don't think Ms. Wyma really delivers.  Mostly she seems to preach the evils of Facebook, Pinterest and other social media, so I guess the solution would be to turn those off. 

This book is billed as "Christian living", but I found it to be very light on Scripture and very heavy on psychobabble. It is well-written and uses a lot of illustrations from real people, but I wish it relied way more on God's Word and way less on psychologists and doctors and other authors.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for my honest review.

Let's Pretend We're Normal: Adventures in Rediscovering How to Be a Family by Tricia Lott Williford

Because I read Tricia Lott Williford's first book, And Life Comes Back, I was very interested in reading her second book, Let's Pretend We're Normal.  The first book told the story of her sudden and unexpected plunge into widowhood and the daunting task she faced of raising two preschoolers alone.  This new book is a sequel to that first roller coaster year.  Although certainly still missing her husband daily, she is now able to function more normally, or at least to pretend to be more normal. 

This honest, humorous book is filled with beautiful examples of God's grace.  Tricia and her sons sometimes stumble, yet they manage to get back up to fight on.  They battle to be a balanced, emotionally healthy family, despite the fact that they will always grieve the loss of the husband and dad. Some days they manage well, others are filled with tears and tantrums. Yet through it all, they love well, forgive quickly and laugh often.

Tricia is a gifted writer, giving us glimpses of her family life--abnormal though it may be. This book about the Williford family is a true story of hope after despair.  It is also the bigger picture of the God's faithfulness and the way he redeems all things.  I was blessed by reading it and I think you will be too.

Blogging for Books provided this book to me for free in exchange for my honest review.